Just Kids

Let me tell you what I did last weekend.

On Saturday, I joined a friend of mine and attended the local high school playoff game, where Loyola beat the undefeated kids from Glenbard West in a nail-biter 28-27.   Coached by former N.F.L. player John Holecek, Loyola came back twice from 14 point deficits to prevail late in the game after intercepting a pass and then taking it in for the last score.  I marveled as the team overcame some early miscues.  Nearly dominated in the first half by a bigger team with a better record, Loyola battled back to advance in the state playoffs.  The kids wowed the crowd with crucial plays, which including a state record tying 99 yard kickoff return for a touchdown, set up perfectly and then the returner turned on the burners and outran his opponents.   Later, wide receiver Matthew  Mangan made a marvelous one handed catch along the sidelines and stayed in bounds to give Loyola a crucial first down (https://twitter.com/LAFootballAC/status/1195020189571657729?s=09).  His catch would have made the highlight reel at ESPN for any N.F.L. or Division 1 college game.  It is easy to forget that these are just 15, 16 and 17 year old kids as John Holecek routinely turns teams that lack true Division 1 scholarship talent into state champions.

On Sunday evening, I attended a performance at Northwestern’s Beinen School of Music entitled “Bach Glory,”  where I was again treated to a stunning performance of Bach’s Cantatas by some wonderful young musicians.  Now, although I love music of all types, I have an untrained musical ear.  But if I closed my eyes, I could not tell the difference between these kids and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.  The geeky looking kid with the unkempt curly hair in the back filled the hall with the sonorous sound of his cello.  The gawky female violinist in the front played with pure passion.   And the beautiful young flutist in her long, black gown mesmerized the audience with a Bach Cantata.  Both the male and female vocalists filled the hall with their clear, rich voices.  The program was equal to anything I’ve seen at orchestra hall, and I was simply amazed when I considered that these musicians are only a couple of years out of high school.

For a total of $14 over the weekend, I was able to see some of the best performances that young people could give.  In the worlds of athletics and music, I saw kids play with focus and passion, and I understood the hours and hours of work and practice that went behind these performances.  I was truly amazed at what these kids could do.   Both musically and athletically, I was treated to a display of talent at a very high level.

It was weekends like this that give me a great deal of hope for the future and why I was so appalled with the Newberry Library Drag Queen Story Hour program.  The Newberry website boasts that  Drag Queen Story Hour "gives kids glamorous, positive and unabashedly queer role models."  It does nothing of the sort.  These people aren't role models for anyone.  Do you really aspire to have your child grow up to be Muffy Fishbasket?  

The young athletes at Loyola and the musicians at Beinen are the right role models for little children.  They are engaged in healthy, wholesome endeavors, toiling day after day to perfect their skills.  We need to support them and nurture them in those endeavors and those are their performances are the ones we should be taking our young children to see and emulate.  The Newberry Library and its board of trustees should be ashamed of themselves.